ELLINGTON ON BROADWAY to Kick Off Monthly Performance Series at Birdland

ELLINGTON ON BROADWAY, featuring songs from the hit musicals PLAY ON and SOPHISTICATED LADIES, will kick off a monthly performance series honoring Jazz Great Duke Ellington at Birdland Jazz Club, 315 West 44th Street, NYC.

The series, to begin at 5:30pm on Sunday, August 4, will be hosted and presented by Mercedes Ellington, Artistic Director/Founder of Duke Ellington Center for the Arts, Inc. and Tony Waag, Artistic Director of The American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF).

Leading vocalists and Broadway performers will be featured at the Ellington on Broadway performance, including Marion Cowings, Ty Stephens and Andrea Wright, with special appearances by tap dancers AC Lincoln and Karen Callaway Williams. All will be accompanied by the Duke Ellington Center's Big Band conducted by Frank Owens.

The Duke Ellington performance series will continue at Birdland Jazz Club monthly, on Sunday evenings.

"The 'Ellington' performance series celebrates a marriage of jazz music and tap dance, and Duke Ellington is a key figure in the perpetuation of the idea that tap dance IS music and tap dancers are indeed musicians that create music with their feet. Tap grew up next to its kissing cousin Jazz. Tap and jazz are undeniably attached at the hip," said Mr Waag, who is curating the tap dance portion of the series. Duke Ellington was inducted into the ATDF International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2017.

Tickets: $30 - $40 - $60
Visit: birdlandjazz.com

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